exercies, weight & feeding

[Murphs]

I have an overweight mare (good doer) who is 8 weeks in on her fitness programme. Yesterday we hacked for 40 mins (include a little canter). today we spent 40mins in the school -walk & trot work only.
She is losing weight very slowly and i'm only giving her hay as a feed (still have good grazing but obviously not as nutrious now).
Whilst untacking her today and brushing her down, she was falling asleep! Do i need to be feeding her concentrates to give her more energy? and if so what - i don't want her to stoplosing weight!

not quite sure what to do so please advise

 

[Mossy]

Hi
Have a look at Gwenillian's thread on feeding and behaviour. It is a mine of info. As she is fat she wil be lethargic. I would go for fibre and forget about concentrates as long as the hay is good. Is she getting a mineral suplement as the grass wil fil her but may not provide all the vits and mins. The basic principle of weight loss is that you need to use more calories than you eat. That will cause weight loss. Exercise will tone the muscle and fitten her whilst she is doing it as well as increase calorie usage. hope that helps

 

[ponyvet]

Providing you give her hay and grass she'll be fine. Hay is actually a fairly good source of minerals so a supplement is unlikely. That's because hay is cut during the summer months and it's at it's peak mineral balance then. People often think minerals are a problem but they're very rarely deficient.

I think mossy's advice is sound. keep exercising her and she'll be fine. One of mine is currently on a training programme to lose weight as he was somewhat ignored over the summer and pigged out. He's not even getting hay at the moment as our grass is good. Try lungeing her as well as that seems to help ours a bit.

Don't worry about her falling asleep, she's probably tired after her workout (GOOD!) and being brushed is nice and relaxing. You'd fall asleep after an aerobics class if you then had a nice massage!

 

[Murphs]

thank you both for your advice. you read so much about feeding that it does get confusing - at least i know what i'm doing is ok! The hay she has is good quality (smells so good, i could eat it myself - well maybe not!)
I was worried that the falling asleep may be due to lack of fuel (if you know what i mean) but, you're probably right Ponyvet!
We've been out to day for a great hack and she certainly had plenty of energy!!!!!!!!!!!!!